


Making the Grade

by SlowMercury



Category: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen
Genre: Gen, Gen Work, Missions, Missions Gone Wrong, Silver Queen's Dreaming of Sunshine Universe, Training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:01:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22214497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlowMercury/pseuds/SlowMercury
Summary: ANBU Beetle is super excited to join ANBU Captain Hawk's newly formed squad, Team Red.  The thrill doesn't last.
Comments: 42
Kudos: 509
Collections: Dreaming of Sunshine Exchange 2019 B, Heliocentrism — a Dreaming of Sunshine recursive collection





	Making the Grade

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Narial](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narial/gifts).



> Hey Narial, 
> 
> Sorry I didn't have this treat ready when the exchange opened. It was supposed to be "three times ANBU Team Red had to work with people who didn't understand them and one time they didn't," but the other two times people didn't understand Team Red kept coming out wrong and I still haven't started writing the last section, so I figured this is as good as it's going to get. I hope you think it's good enough as a stand alone!

ANBU Beetle has heard great things about ANBU Hawk, and he jumps at the chance to join the new team Hawk is building. Hawk is one of the younger ANBU captains, probably, it’s not like anyone knows who Hawk is under the mask, but at the very least Hawk is still growing and something about him implies that he’s at least one growth spurt away from his adult height. However old Hawk is, though, rumor has it that he’s smart, hard working, knows like a billion jutsu, and has not lost a teammate since he made captain. Some people are even saying Hawk is going to be the next ANBU Wolf. Beetle himself is newly eighteen, so it’s a bit thrilling to be on a team with someone near his age instead of grizzled ANBU veterans.

Beetle discovers that Hawk really does live up to at least the hype about hard work. Even though ANBU Team Red is supposed to be on routine patrols and bodyguard duty inside Fire Country, Hawk drills his new team like he’s expecting them to have to fight off invasions with no backup or, like, a jinchuriki or something.

It’s honestly a _bit_ excessive, especially when they haven’t even gone out in the field yet.

“Hawk-taicho,” Beetle eventually protests, “don’t you think you’re being a little… paranoid? It’s really unlikely that we’ll run into anything that strange.” 

Beetle had been planning to go on a date tonight. Instead, he is in a secret training field in an undisclosed location near ANBU headquarters, planning out what to do if he and the rest of Team Red are ever on a routine patrol near the border of Fire and River and then suddenly have to repel a convoy of ninja carrying high yield explosives disguised as merchants before the ninja-merchants can reach any vulnerable Fire infrastructure.

Hawk doesn’t say anything, just turns his mask to _stare_ at Beetle. He doesn’t say anything in such a pointed way that Beetle is abruptly reminded of the recent Sound-Sand invasion, and how rumor says several ANBU teams near the Sound border were caught unprepared by some of Orochimaru’s experiments. Two of those teams haven’t been seen since.

Beetle swallows the rest of his protests and buckles back down to work. (His date gets so mad at being stood up that Beetle is single again.)

When Red Team finally goes out on their first official patrol, they find suspicious tracks heading towards Waterfall; Red Team discovers what turns out to be a smuggling ring with branches into three other nations, and they end up fighting a ninja who summons flocks of giant flamingoes. Their second patrol, Red Team stumbles onto and then accidentally triggers a seal left over from the Second Shinobi World War; they are trapped in an abandoned quarry rapidly filling with water for six hours before Hawk manages to reverse engineer an earth jutsu he heard about once and blow an exit out the side of the cliff. Beetle doesn’t even want to _think_ about their third patrol.

Anyway, it turns out that Hawk-taicho’s insane drill schedule and unreasonable strategy sessions aren’t so paranoid after all; Hawk’s forward thinking has come in handy more than once.

Beetle still thinks Hawk is admirably dedicated, very likely to go far in ANBU. Beetle still respects Hawk-taicho, and still sort of wants to be friends with him. But. Beetle transfers the hell off of Team Red.


End file.
